This was the match I was not looking forward to. It was Fenland Rods' annual Waggler-only Rod-and-line event - proper wagglers fixed bottom only. And every year it reminds me just what an advantage a pole can be in many circumstances. In addition I hadn't been able to remember whether feeding via a pole cup was allowed, so I popped in the basic cupping kit from my spare pole - two short sections totalling about four feet - just in case.
That was stupid of me, especially when I found out that the rule was that yes, pole cups are allowed. I should have checked the previous day. The rule seems to me to be a little illogical, but no matter. It's the same for everyone. (That is everyone who remembers). My puny four-foot kit proved to be almost useless. Ten of us were fishing the East bank of the strip lake, Cedar.
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| My left margin - the biggest fish came here. |
This was the day after the incessant rain, which never stopped all day in our village. So the water would be a little better oxygenated than of late, while there was very little wind, no rain, and the sun never shone all day - nice conditions. On the other hand fish don't like quick changes of any kind. And they were still mooning about under the surface when we started.
So I went out on a pellet waggler, casting up to 30 yards, in the hope that they would feed shallow. John Smith on end peg 14 took all his fish shallow, but it didn't work for me even though I went quickly from 12 inches to four feet deep, and I gave up after 20 minutes. Probably should have given it longer.
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| The right margin - fishy-looking but I never had even a bite here. |
I had two more wagglers made up, one on a leger rod and the other an overweight three-piece 13-footer which was not at all suitable for this sort of close-in fishing. My second float choice was an insert Ray Nimmo waggler taking about three BB shot. No sooner had I put a piece of corn on the hook than a fish swam close to me. I dropped the corn in front of it, waited for a few seconds, and when the float didn't move I lifted the rig...only to find myself attached to a very surprised 3 lb common carp.
The right margin looked really good, and Kevin Lee had told me before he started that he had done well on this peg fishing to the reeds. But it didn't work for me, and I never had a bite there all day. Nor did I get any more offers from carp swimming past. My next good move was to fish banded 6mm pellet under the spot I had been feeding some by catapult, at about ten metres.
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| John Smith, in the corner on 14, could only catch shallow casting well across. |
Over the next three hours I managed about four carp to 6 lb from this swim. I also lost two or three big fish, probably foulhooked, even though I tried not to strike at the obvious liners. I had to feed by catapult or by hand - but I would have much preferred to be more accurate using a pole cup. It seemed to me that it would have been a question of just nabbing the occasional fish that felt hungry by putting just a couple of pellets and my bait in front of it, and that catapulting out pellets was just feeding those fish and distracting them from my bait.
Back to the left deep margin and a seven-pounder took a piece of corn just beyond an overhanging bush, but things were proving difficult. There were awkward snags under the bush and I had to go out a little farther. On my left Dick Warrener had a fish or two on meat about eight metres out. I went back there with the banded pellet for just one more fish, with another on corn, and, giving up on the right margin, concentrated on the left.
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| Dick, on my left, had a good spell in the second half of the match, and would probably have caught more had he not packed up early to help weigh in. |
A change to mussel in the second half of the match brought a six-pounder first drop in, but no more, though I did lose a couple more on meat. Then Dick started to catch more fish - in the next couple of hours he had six or seven on meat, mainly around 4 lb, so far as I could see, while I had just two, close in. Mind you, the first was a foulhooked 7 lb carp, which took me right up to both adjoining swims while I dropped the rod as far below the surface as I could, gritted my teeth, and hung on. It finished in the net...eventually. The hook was in a pectoral fin.
Next came a mirror carp, hooked properly, which took a grain of corn just after I had lifted it. It's much more difficult to lift a bait just an inch when using a bottom-only waggler, which is one of the biggest disadvantages I have found. Anyway, that fish came motored off slowly but as soon as I dropped the rod tip under the surface the fish, which must have read the books on playing fish, obligingly came to the surface, and slowly allowed itself to be gently nursed into my waiting landing net. All 14 lb 15 oz of it!
In two fell swoops I had caught Dick up. Quite undeservedly.
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| I admire my best fish prior to weighing it at 14 lb 15 oz. |
My final fish, 20 minutes from the end, was a nine-pounder also foulhooked on corn in the left margin. This again threatened to charge through Mike Rawson's swim on my right, in fact I think it probably did. Then it went out, swirled towards the far bank, and dived back towards the reeds on my bank. A long pole would have probably quickly stopped it from making its target, while a short rod requires luck, and in my case more gritted teeth and a silent prayer. The reeds shook, but the fish grudgingly drifted out.
That was the first fish to go into my second net, even though I had only an estimated 38 lb in my first net, but you can't be too careful, and our club fishes to the "50 lb maximum" rule.
I had a pint and a half of dead maggots, but didn't feed them I as thought it might just confuse the carp, and there had been no sign of barbel. I wonder whether they have suffered in that red-hot spell we had at the end of May. BUT I should have tried a bunch of maggots as hook bait, as this sometimes works wonders for a short time with the big carp.
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| Kevin Lee's best fish in his 69 lb 10 oz bag. |
I estimated I had between 40 lb and 50 lb, and was amazed to hear that Callum on peg 25 had had only two bites for 7 lb 5 oz, and that Dave Garner, our club champion who fishes only with a waggler, had struggled to 32 lb 2 oz. I was later told by an angler in another match that Dave had fallen in, which I suppose doesn't help...
Dick had 43 lb 11 oz - much less than I had thought, but his fish were smaller than I had thought. My first 38 lb net weighed in at 49 lb 14 oz! We weighed that biggest carp at 14lb 15 oz. My last fish, in a net on its own, went 9 lb 9 oz, for a total of 59 lb 7 oz. Mike DNW on my right had made a quick exit, though I know he had at least one fish. Then along to Kevin Lee with 69 lb 10 oz on meat close in.
And then to Peter Spriggs, who also took his fish on meat close in, and was 4 lb 8 oz over in one net, giving him 68 lb 2 oz and second spot - if he had put just one fish in that large net into the smaller one he would have won by 3 lb. Not the first time that has happened and it won't be the last.
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| Peter Spriggs should have won, but went over 50 lb in one net. |
So I ended up third, and received a handful of golden coins. But I am certain that if I had had a longer length on my cupping kit I would have done much better - I simply couldn't be accurate enough with my feeding. And had I landed just one of the lost big fish I might have won.
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| The result. Dave Garner fell in, but as he didn't end up in his keepnet he was not weighed. |
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